Fear is the mind killer.

Preface:  A lot of life (and loss thereof) has happened since my last post.

So yesterday, I dragged my 8yo daughter to Costco, because I knew our budget restraints would not allow for another trip for a while.  I typically try to grocery shop in the small windows of time that I have without her, to spare her, but this one was not avoidable.  She HATES shopping with a passion, and I sadly miscalculated that it would be "prime free sample time", so she was feeling restless.

We made it through the store, and as we approached checkout, she asked if she could sit on the display furniture nearby while I checked out.  I said fine, but that she should stay where she could see me.  The cashier said "Don't you mean 'stay where you can see her'?" and I said "I find it much more effective if you tell a child to stay where they can see you, because kids automatically assume that you have eyes in the back of your head."  She laughed and we carried on with our transaction.
Two minutes pass as I'm checking out, and she is right behind me (10 feet maybe?), feigning sleep, curled up on a really cool but not in my budget piece of outdoor furniture.  A woman approaches the cashier, little baby in a sling, and says "Ma'am, I don't want to alarm you but there is a little girl over there and I don't see a parent anywhere nearby".  I interrupted her and said "Yeah, she's mine.  I know where she is."  She stuttered and walked away.

I did have a talk with my daughter, because danger is out there, but she shouldn't invite it by playing like she's asleep.  She also got a talk about not inviting CPS investigations.  (She has been sorely disappointed that even though she's 8 now, I don't let her wait in the car very often, even though it's legal at her age in our state.)  A lot of people mistake fear for safety.

To be honest, I still have a touch of it myself.  I don't know what people do on the land behind ours.  I didn't grow up here, but I still like it here.  We have the land owner's permission, but others are using it without consent.   I still want her to explore though, so we introduced walkie-talkies to the equation, and avoid hunting seasons.

Raising confident kids who are not controlled by fear is a pretty tall order these days.

Om nom nom.

I picked up a couple of pounds of ground lamb at the farmer's market this week and couldn't wait to make gyro meat for Greek salads.  Unfortunately, when I went in the fridge to get the lettuce, it was rotten already.  :(  I didn't like the idea of just eating plain gyro with tzatziki either, so I decided to whip up something that I hoped would come out like a flexible flatbread.  It worked!  I'm not sure what to call these, they can be anything from a thick flatbread to a thin tortilla or crepe depending on how much liquid you use.  I made ours medium thickness, a little thicker than a tortilla but still foldable so that they would work for gyros.
 

 Primal Flatbread/Tortillas

1 cup tapioca flour/starch
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 jumbo egg (1 regular plus 1 yolk would probably work)
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4-1/2 cup milk of choice
Butter/ghee/bacon grease for greasing pan

Whisk together dry ingredients and cheese, and in a separate bowl whisk together wet, starting with 1/4 cup milk.  Combine together, batter should be pourable (like pancake batter), add more milk to thin the batter if you want thinner tortillas/crepes.  Preheat cast iron or other non-stick frying pan to medium heat and grease, pour in batter, and flip when the edges get dry and you see bubbles in the batter.  Re-grease pan as needed (just as you would with pancakes).  This recipe is a small batch, it made 4 flatbreads.

If you're interested, this is the absolute best recipe for gyro meat ever.  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/traditional-gyro-meat/  I actually baked the gyro loaf in my new Instant Pot and it worked quite well!  I put the meat into a 2qt. round glass baking dish, put a cup of water into the pot, and used the metal rack with handles to lower it in.  Pushed the meat/stew button, bumped it up to an hour cooking time, and wha-la!  Then I just sliced it thinly and threw it in the frying pan (already greased from making flatbreads) to crisp it up.  No photos because we inhaled it!

Ready...set...freeze.

Yesterday was a beautiful day.  We spent most of it outside, building another raised bed, fixing the motion activated sprinkler, making a pea trellis, and transplanting the tomatoes. 

 Another exciting moment was our first harvest of the season--a radish!  Miss A did the honors of taste testing and declared it yummy.

 When I looked at my phone this morning, I saw the dreaded red triangle on the weather app.  I initially thought it was because of the storms today, but it was actually a freeze warning.  Of course, a freeze warning right after we transplanted the tomatoes.  Time to break out the plastic again.

Spring has been pretty busy, with the birthday party, family visiting, softball, etc. I haven't had much time for blogging.  My eldest, Mister X, is home for spring break and we plan to take our first backcountry camping trip once the weather clears up.  I'm excited, we all have hammocks now and the Cherokee National Forest is gorgeous in spring.

Fox Party!

Miss A had very specific wishes for her birthday this year.  She wanted a "What Does the Fox Say" party, a fox carrot cake, and BBQ from a nearby restaurant.  I was skeptical that I could pull off a fox party--while there are sellers on Etsy that make printable fox party themes, I didn't want to resort to that unless I had to.  The party was a hit, the kids had fun, and the song did not get on our nerves as much as I'd thought.

Here are some of the things that I did:

Pin the Tail on the Fox - This was so cheap and easy!  I bought a piece of foam board and chevron wrapping paper at Dollar Tree.  Wrapped the foam board with the paper for the background.  Found the fox image at SuperColoring, colored the image at the website and saved it, and then used PosteRazor to print it poster sized on multiple standard sheets of paper.  Then I cut out the fox image, cut off the tail, laminated the tail for durability, and glued the rest of the fox to the paper.  Put a thumbtack through the tail for pinning, and added text printed out from MS Word.  It's hard to see, but the speech bubble says "Jacha-chacha-chacha-chow!".

Fox Pinata - this was more difficult.  I found the inspiration at Oleander and Palm.  Even though the website said it was out of stock, I found the star shaped pinata at our local Target.  Miss A and I made a huge mess of the homeschool room ripping off the existing tissue paper, and then painted it with orange paint so that the remaining bits didn't show through.  Then I took orange tissue paper and cut it into strips and unlike the inspiration who had fringe scissors, painstakingly cut the paper into fringe and glued them on.  We filled it mainly with party favors - things like wedding bubbles, whistles, compasses, bead necklaces, etc. along with some all-natural candy.  FYI, I do not recommend the Target star pinata for younger kids.  It was virtually indestructible, and the adults ended up having to smash it open because none of the kids could, even with a real softball bat.

Michael's craft stores are a treasure trove of fox themed stuff right now!  We scored a fox stamp, notebooks for favor bags, mini-clothespin foxes, a little fox dish, thank you cards (and plain cards, which would be great for invitations, wish I'd found them sooner!) and their Creatology section has a Woodland theme that includes fox stickers and craft projects.  They also have plastic fox toys in the toy section, but our store didn't have enough for all of our guests.

Goodie Bags - just paper lunch sacks, stamped with foxes, holes punched and tied with ribbon, and names clipped on with fox clips.

Fox Masks - I found the template on illistyle.  Just 3 colors of felt, each piece of felt made at least 4 pieces, plus the black pieces are very small.  Cut, glue (I used hot glue), and attach an elastic band or ribbon to tie it on.  I had debated on having the kids make these themselves (with regular glue) but worried that they would have trouble waiting for the glue to dry.  The foam sticker kits were much easier for the kids to do.

Fox Cake - Miss A insisted on a carrot cake for her birthday, and while I had seen some cute fox cakes using icing, I had the idea of using shredded carrots (mixed with a dusting of sugar) for fox fur instead.  She used the small holes on a cheese grater to shred the carrots while I was making the cake.  I used Primal Palate's primal carrot cake recipe, and after frosting with cream cheese icing I sprinkled on the carrot fur, and then melted some Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips with a little coconut oil and used a squeeze bottle to make the eyes, nose, and whiskers.  The ears are just card stock and marker, I had initially planned to use chocolate for those too (hardened on parchment paper and attached with toothpicks), but at this point it was very late the night before the party and I ran out of time.  The cake was a hit - folks at the party couldn't believe that it was gluten (and grain) free.

Ice Cream Ball - Not a Fox related item, but I wanted to include it because it has been well worth the money.  We got the YayLabs! Ice Cream Ball a while back for a get-together, and I don't think we'll ever buy ice cream again.  Not only does it make great ice cream, you control the ingredients, and most importantly it keeps kids busy and having fun while waiting for the main event!  Just add cream (coconut cream works too!), sugar (or stevia/honey/etc.), flavoring, and roll it around on the ground for 30 minutes. 

Miss A had a blast and her friends did too, so I think we pulled it off!! 

Greek Lamb Shoulder Chops

I love it when I wing a recipe (or like this one, combine two) and it turns out amazing.  Unfortunately I also have a bad habit of not writing it down and never being able to re-create it.  This time, I will document and share it here!

I love lamb shoulder chops--they're a cheap way to get tasty, hormone-free, grass-fed meat.  Publix had them on sale this week for $3.99/lb.  Their lamb cuts (but not ground lamb) are usually from Australia, where raising lamb on pasture is the norm, so they're typically grass-fed.  I realized that I didn't have enough time to cook the chops the way I normally do in the oven.  I also was at a loss on what to serve with them when it hit me--lamb goes great with Greek seasonings, and I had tomatoes and green beans. I also had feta cheese but once I got wrapped up in cooking I totally forgot to use it.

Greek Lamb Shoulder Chops

4 lamb shoulder chops

1 tbs. extra virgin olive oil (more if needed)

salt & pepper 

1 small sweet onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1.5 cups beef stock

1 bag of frozen fancy green beans

1 large can of diced tomatoes

Feta cheese for garnish/topping (optional, I forgot)

Heat olive oil in a large pan (stock pot, deep frying pan, or dutch oven would also work) on medium high heat.  Sprinkle salt and pepper over lamb chops, then sear for 2-3 minutes per side or until nicely browned.  Remove the chops from the pan, lower heat to medium, and saute onions until translucent (add more oil if needed).  Add garlic and cook for another minute or two, and then deglaze the pan with the beef stock, letting it reduce and darken for a couple of minutes.  Put the chops back in the pan, add frozen green beans, canned tomatoes, and seasonings.  Do your best to mix them around a bit.  Increase heat to medium high, bring to a boil, and then turn it down to a rapid simmer.  I stirred and checked the chops periodically for tenderness, but overall I believe they simmered for around an hour, lid off for the last 20 minutes to help the sauce thicken.  

I was floored by how good this was, and even my food critic Miss A kept raving about how she loved it.  I would have a picture of it plated, but we inhaled it and went for seconds!  I imagine this recipe would work wonderfully in a slow cooker, which I don't have right now.  My trusty Hamilton Beach cracked (leaving my counter steeped in chicken stock...) and I am anxiously awaiting it's backordered replacement--an Instant Pot Duo60.  It does everything--pressure cooking, slow cooking, searing, steaming, rice cooking, yogurt making, etc.  I've wanted one for a couple of years now but vowed to use my crock pot until it died.  Guess I got my wish!

Back on the Feed

I'm back on Facebook, I was away for 3 weeks though which was a pretty good run.  I've been paring down all the liked pages and junk on my feed which is helping a lot with the time wasting factor.  Our TV viewing has been greatly reduced as well, we will watch Walking Dead on Amazon tonight (trying my best to avoid spoilers) but the TV isn't on all evening like it used to be.  Miss A has been sticking to educational fare, like the Magic School Bus.

This weekend was fun, I took miss A to softball practice Saturday morning and stopped by a nearby farm for grass-fed meat and eggs on our way home.  The farmer and his family were headed out canoeing that afternoon, we had wanted to go ourselves but thought it was supposed to rain all day.   I checked the weather and the rain had been pushed back until late, so I called my husband and he got our canoe and fishing gear loaded up on the truck.  After a quick lunch we headed to Parksville Lake (Lake Ocoee) to test the plastic weld patch on the boat and do a little fishing.  Didn't catch any fish aside from a teeny bass, Miss A was disappointed that we didn't catch dinner.  She got a lot of practice casting though and is doing a lot better.  Now if she can just learn to be patient and watch the bobber instead...  The sun even came out and warmed us up, and we got a good workout paddling back to the boat ramp when the trolling motor ran out of juice.  Now that we know the patch is holding, I think our next trip out will be either the lower Ocoee or Hiwassee.  Sunday wasn't as exciting, just catching up on chores and preparing the garden for the freeze.  We had a big sheet of plastic leftover from the moving supplies that was the perfect size to staple over the beds.  I also repurposed a small step-lid trashcan from our RV into a compost bin for the kitchen.  The inner bucket has a handle that makes it easy to tote out to the compost pile.  Now I just need to stop accidentally putting things into the trash that can go into the compost!  Our tomato seedlings really took off this weekend, and to my surprise some of the Cherokee Purple seeds have finally sprouted.  Miss A is thrilled that her favorite tomatoes (Amana Orange) are the biggest and strongest of the bunch. 

Busy week ahead, after school today we'll pick up the night guard my dentist made for the jaw pain and stop by the dairy for some milk.  Tomorrow is our library day and a softball scrimmage.  Wednesday Aldi is having another sale on organic grass-fed ground beef, it's good timing because the farm we usually get ours from had a processing mishap.  While I'd rather buy local, stocking up on the rare sales like this helps stretch the budget.  Then Thursday and Friday we'll be cleaning and preparing for Miss A's 6th birthday party on Saturday!  She wanted a "What Does the Fox Say?" themed party, I've collected lots of ideas and inspiration and will do a post on it next week. 

Furry Garden Enemies

Who would have thought that the worst enemies of our garden so far are our very own cats?

These two may look innocent, but they have been digging in the raised beds.  The main culprit is Needles, the grey kitten.  I know this because she was kept indoors for a week after being spayed, and we had no incidents during that time.  We installed a motion activated sprinkler and chalked it up to that, but nooooo, the very day after we let her back out, I see one of the beds has been dug in, despite the sprinkler.  Thankfully it was one I haven't planted anything in yet.  She thought that the chicken wire I put over top of the other one was a comfy kitty hammock too.  Mr. Moo has only been guilty of jumping in the bed once because he wanted me to pet him instead of planting seeds. 


Our indoor cats are in on the action as well.  Nora, the 16 year old grumpy kitty, thinks that broccoli sprouts are delicious.  She normally can't jump very high, but my daughter uses a step stool to reach the upper shelves to water them, and guess who used it to have a sprout snack...  See the green on her lip?  Busted.

Callie hasn't been that destructive (yet...) but she seems to think that we are not going to need this tray for the marigolds and herbs I need to start this week.  She is going to be disappointed when I show her otherwise.

Bad kitties!!